[kubrick] Don’t Open The Elevator … Metafilter discuss the trailer for The Shining … ‘Now I’m imagining the reverse shot, which would be the blood patiently sitting in the elevator, listening to Elevator music, until there’s a *ping* and the doors open and it rushes out.’

[comics] Metafilter Discuss The Best Batman Comics … a mixed bag of fun links to various Batman panels and comics … ‘PLEASE! Can anyone find for me the Superfriends clip where Batman is guarding Fort Knox and he gets tricked into drinking drugged chicken soup by a mad scientist posing as a street vendor and Batman actually asks if the soup is fresh before buying it? Please? Anyone? I SWEAR I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!’[link]

[books] Ask MeFi: What books do people proselytize about? … ‘I think these books are types that suggest a single, clear lens through which the world and all life experience can be viewed. When certain, perhaps impressionable or at least eager people read these books and take the theses as gospel,’getting religion,’ as it were, that this author has hit on the EXACT TRUTH about things, they can’t stop talking about them to others.’

[crime] A Classic post from Ask Metafilter: Suppose you killed somebody… How would you dispose of the body without getting caught? … ‘Truly grinding down a body takes a lot more work, and you run the risk of fouling your plumbing and calling in a plumber. So don’t try it unless you know how to clear bones and meat out of a drainpipe. A good food processor can be useful. But don’t over-use it, or power drills or saws. They’re noisy and they attract attention. And forget the kitchen sink. It’s better if you actually remove one of the toilets in your house from its base, which will give you direct access to one of the largest sewer pipes that enters your house.’

[comics] Don’t Watch That, Watch This … great Metafilter post covering the pop/ska band Madness and linking to loads of videos on YouTube … ‘I’ve always said that if you don’t find yourself helplessly tapping your toes during “Embarrassment,” then you are either a member of the Klan or clinically dead.’(more…)

[comics] More on Grant Morrison: Metafilter discuss Final Crisis and Zoids … ‘Holy shit, that Zoids comic is a hilariously Morrisonesque hijacking. Thanks! I had no idea such a thing existed. My favorite part is when Zoidzilla steps through that silvery liquid into the Hyperverse of the Mind…’

[politics] Deep Throat Revealed — Metafilter discuss Woodward and Bernstein’s whistle-blower outing himself. Orthogonality: ‘You have to be of an age to remember the times. And the hideous sideburns and the too-wide, too-ugly, too-polyester neckties. The Christmas bombings and the secret bombings (said by Nixon himself to have been inspired by seeing the musical 1776) and his “secret plan to end the war” and then “Vietnamization”. The enemies’ lists and the paranoia about “the Jews”. And “pray with me Henry” and C.R.E.E.P and Dean and Erlichman and Haldeman (each with his sideburns and the god-awful neckties, too). And the jowls. The hatred, rooted in envy, for the Kennedys and for the whole East Coast Establishment. And the V-for-victory salute. And the sweaty face. All the way back, to HUAC and “a little dog named Checkers” and the “good Republican cloth coat” and “you won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore” and Eisenhower’s reluctance to endorse his own Vice President’s succession. And finally the “This is the 37th time I have spoken to you from this office….” The whole long national nightmare…’

[comics] Graphic Novels for Snobs — Ask Mefi discuss Graphic Novels … ‘People keep telling me that certain graphic novels are masterpieces, but when I read them, I don’t like them. I keep wondering what their criteria are for judging a book a work of genius. Do they mean “it’s a masterpiece compared with other comic books” or “it’s a masterpiece compared with any work or literature”? Because I don’t care how something ranks within the comic-book world. I just want to read good stories. I’m convinced there MUST be good stories in graphic novel form.’

[comics] The Comics Bubble and the Burst — Metafilter discuss the comic book speculation bubble of the 1990’s. ‘…I sold hundreds of copies of Harbinger #1 (Valiant Comics) for more than a hundred bucks a pop — and you can pick them up for near cover price these days. I was a bastard. I knew and understood the fanboy mentality perfectly, and to this day I feel no guilt about it.’

[comics] This will be a good comic… good enough? — Metafilter discusses All-Star Batman and Superman … ‘Warren Ellis penned a column in 2000 regarding why Ultimate Marvel was a good idea and the logic holds for All-Star DC. Writers don’t want to be handicapped by decades of backstory. The fans that slavishly want icons frozen in narrative stasis are a miniscule, but loud voice, and they really should be ignored.’ [via Feeling Listless]

[comics] Great/dumb Comic Book Covers — Metafilter discuss the Best and Worst Comic Book Covers … ‘Threads like this make me long for the days when I spent hours in the comic book shop discussing comics, M:TG cards and bragging about my collection of extremely rare and entirely coverless comic books (at some point I realized that they only way I could have items such as “Amazing Spider-Man #1” was to find copies without covers….lol). I do have more money now though.’

[web] Metafilter: Remixed — A collaborative site for rating posts on Metafilter … ‘The posts you see on this page have been voted on as excellent Metafilter threads. A lot of people find Metafilter a little too unwieldy to read through these days, and a lot of people also wish they had some better way of rewarding great posts other than just commenting “Great thread!”‘ [via Metatalk]

[blogs] Metafilter: A Methodology — an examination of what is wrong with Metafilter … ‘This brings us to Matt Haughey, the owner and proprietor of Metafilter. Mr. Haughey is frequently overlooked for his efforts at hosting the site, maintaining Metafilter order and overseeing the day-to-day operations of Metafilter. Dwindle has presented new evidence that Mr. Haughey may face mortal danger in light of the high stress levels of trying to judiciously govern a community with so many disparate users. As we shall see in the ensuing statistics, Mr. Haughey’s efforts are not only overlooked, but they may lead to his untimely death, which, aside from depressing the living hell out of Dwindle and myself, would also lead to the death of Metafilter.’ [via Metatalk]

Excellent Paul Thomas Anderson Fansite — he’s the director of Magnolia and Boogie Nights. ‘You’re not the boss of me, Jack! You’re not the king of Dirk! I’m the boss of me! I’m the king of me. I’m Dirk Diggler! I’m the star! It’s my big dick and I say when we roll!’ [MF]

[kaycee] Comprehensive list of Kaycee Nicole hoax links and FAQ. Also here’s a summing up of recent developments… ‘One of the local papers seems to have reached Debbie and gotten a story that her daughter Kelli and her N’Sync friends created Kaycee to meet boys. Debbie found out about it, and somehow took over the character (maybe starting out as a protection thing?), added the cancer, and it snowballed. Everything was going fine until she became SO big a net.celeb that people were insisting Kaycee attend SXSW and then JournalCon, offering airfare etc. So it would have been very unbelievable for her not to show. This is why she was “killed”.’ [via Metafilter]

[bomb] Metafilter discusses the bomb at the BBC (with a contribution from me). There are also some postings from Dave at Brainsluice and Vaughan at Wherever You Are. From my posting on Metafilter: ‘As a friend of mine said about a previous bomb explosion in London… ‘This is far to close to home’. I use the White City Tube station and main entrance to BBC Television Centre every weekday to get into work … the servers I administer are about 5 floors above where the bomb exploded… ‘